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Every night we put our kids to bed by doing a little routine. It includes, individually, telling them a paraphrased version of some critical scriptures as well as a prayer. Instead of typing it all out, you can see what I mean here:

Meet David and Amy Galyan. They are an adoptive family that has recently become very involved in our church and ministry. Their whole family is amazing and I can’t wait to see what else God does through their ministry, in particular to kids in our cities who need a home, adoptive families and the homeless population of Fresno.

This #WeAreTwoCities video series helps answer the question, “Who are these two cities people and what are they all about?

This is a quote I’ve heard on more than one occasion from some of my favorite people, Jim and Carrie Tienken. Chances are, if you’ve lived in Fresno and attended any of the local churches for long enough, you’ve run into one or both of these fine people. We recently shot a video of them at a local coffee shop, just telling us a bit of their story. The questions were simple:

What do you love about our cities (Fresno and Clovis)?

What do you think we could improve upon in our cities?

Why are you a part of Two Cities Church?

What kinds of roles do you play at the church?

What’s one of your favorite wins we’ve experienced?

You know, simple stuff.

But in the middle of all of that Carrie calls herself a “Recovering Pharisee” and explains that when she first came to Two Cities, she was extremely judgmental. She is brave. She just said that on video for the whole world to see. Wow.

I think far more of us, Jesus people, Christians have more of that in us than we’d like to admit. But what I love about Jim and Carrie is that they’ve realized that’s not Jesus’ response to people, his response is gracious and so they are actively seeking ways to be more gracious and giving their judgements over to God.

I want to be like them when I grow up!

Maybe you’re asking, “What’s a Pharisee?” Well, a Pharisee was a certain class of people that lived contemporary with Jesus in Jerusalem and the surrounding communities. They were devout religious-Jews. They took the Hebrew Scriptures very seriously, literally and they held every part of those documents in high esteem. So high, in fact, that treating people with graciousness was hard to do. Consequently, they were notoriously harsh with people they felt were breaking the Law of Moses. They were judgmental.

Sometimes, we, Christians can be that way, even with the Old Covenantal Law of Moses, which, by the way, doesn’t apply to us because we are actually under the New Covenantal Law of Christ. That’s enough back story, here’s their video, enjoy.

When I was nine or ten years old, I built a fort out of tree limbs and debris. I leaned them up against the front of our house like some sort of natural shelter. I thought it was awesome. My dad, on the other hand, did not. It was an eye sore for the neighborhood, not something a home-owner wants to be known for.

He made me take it down, just as quick as it went up. In that moment he simple told me, “No, you can’t put this here.” But his “no” wasn’t forever. It also came with a promise.

HE ALSO TOLD ME, “YES, I WILL HELP YOU BUILD A REAL FORT.”

In my brain, that meant that day. But again, he said, “No, not now.” He was much too busy and I totally understand that. His office was at home and I was constantly trying to disrupt his workflow. He had tight deadlines and no guarantee of income. He had to work hard to keep the business and our family afloat. He continually, and gently, pushed me out of his office while he worked. Something I do now, everyday, with my own kids.

So his “no” was temporary. He would help me. But it would have to be on his time table.

Weeks went by, maybe even months and I continually asked him, “Can we build the fort today? Can we? Can we? Can we?” And eventually, after many attempts to get this project started, I almost gave up hope.

I needed someone to intercede on my behalf. Someone who also had the ear of my dad, someone who had a relationship with him that was all their own and could plead my case on my behalf.

I needed mom.

My mom marched into that office, after noticing my defeated plea, time and time again, she said, “You promised and you need to follow through.” And in that moment, the plan was birthed. My dad said, “Okay, this Saturday we’re going to start working on it.” I was thrilled. This was going to be fun.

Early that Saturday morning, we went to get the supplies: wood, nails, shingles, windows, hinges, siding, electrical boxes… this wasn’t what I was expecting. This was shaping up to be something far better!

We worked all day, several days, and by the end I had a majestic fort. It was beautiful. I don’t know the exact dimensions, but I think it was probably in the neighborhood of 100 sq ft, complete with electricity, bunkbeds and trap-door for entry. Basically a tiny house on stilts.

This was epic.

If he hadn’t squashed my little fort dream…

If he hadn’t promised me a new one…

If I hadn’t persisted in that promise, continually asking for fulfillment…

If my mom hadn’t interceded on my behalf…

And if he wasn’t a man of his word…

…I WOULD OF BEEN STUCK WITH THAT LITTLE JUNKY FORT.

But that little junky fort was the prelude to something amazing.

YOUR EARLY UNDERSTANDING OF GOD IS TYPICALLY SHAPED BY THE BEHAVIOR OF YOUR FATHER.

If you had an absent father, a missing father, or a work-a-holic father… you tend to view God in the same light. And the same things can be true of your mother, but for whatever reason, dads tend to have a bigger impact on your impression of God than moms.

I AM GRATEFUL THAT MY DAD SHOWED ME THAT A FATHER CAN BE TRUSTED.

But at some point,every father, no matter how great, fails. They are not perfect. They say the wrong thing. Their busyness or frustration bubbles up into words that cut like a knife and can’t be unsaid. So, as we mature, we must realize, whatever good our fathers showed us was from God and whatever deficit they created in our hearts was not because of God, but prideful-sinful-human nature.

God can be trusted, no matter what.

If you have a father-wound, as we all do to some degree, I want to challenge you to let that go, to forgive. If you have been struggling with the idea of a perfect-heavenly father because of your experience with your earthly father… choose to trust. He can be trusted.

HE MAY BE SAYING “NO” TO YOUR JUNKY-FORT-DREAMS NOW, BUT HE’S GOT SOMETHING FAR BETTER IN MIND.

Be patient.

Keep asking.

Don’t lose hope.

Get someone else to intercede in prayer for you.

And believe this promise:

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” – Romans 8:28 NIV

Remember when you were a kid and you just wanted to play hide ’n seek… like all the time?

I remember playing different variations on that game. Monsters in the dark, Kick-the-can, Tag, Spy, and their are so many more. My kids love playing hide ’n seek. And they’re terrible at it.

They always give up their positioning even before I finish counting. They do the classic thing where they cover their eyes and think that as long as they can’t see me, I can’t see them and I think it’s adorable. My favorite is when they simply slide under a blanket on the bed and don’t realize they’ve made a huge human-shaped lump on top of the bed.

I love playing with them but sometimes I hide a little too long and stay a little too quiet, it freaks them out.

Do you ever feel like God hides from you? Like he’s stayed a little too quiet? Like, is he just playing a huge game of hide ’n seek? Or do you ever wonder if you can you actually find him?

In the Old Testament of the Bible, we find a great deal of rich history, from which Jesus was birthed. It’s the historical backdrop of the narrative of Jesus and there seems to be a ton of hide ’n seek between God and the nation of Israel. At one point most of the nation is taken away as captives, as exiles to Babylon, a foreign ancient-world-power.

God writes a letter to the exiled nation of Israel through the prophet Jeremiah. And here’s part of that letter as it’s translated in the Message version of the Bible…

This is God’s Word on the subject: “As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” – Jeremiah 29:10-14 MSG

And then later in Jesus’ ministry he’s speaking to a bunch of people in his famous inaugural all-day sermon called, The Sermon on the Mount and in chapter 7 of Matthew he says this

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” – Matthew 7:7-8 NIV

So, if you really want to find God, seek him out with your whole heart, hold nothing back for fear of failure because both the prophet Jeremiah and Jesus both indicate that God will be found by you.